Polycentric security governance and sustainable development in the Global South

Berg, J. and Shearing, C. (2020) Polycentric security governance and sustainable development in the Global South. In: Blaustein, J., Fitz-Gibbon, K., Pino, N. W. and White, R. (eds.) The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice and Sustainable Development. Emerald Publishing Limited: Bingley, pp. 153-173. ISBN 9781787693562 (doi: 10.1108/978-1-78769-355-520201011)

Abstract

Policing in much of the developing world has always been, in many respects, both dominated by the nonstate and pluralised. Yet, plurality and the nonstate are predominantly conceptualised, by scholars and practitioners alike, as problematic, noninclusive and/or undemocratic. Yet the reality is far more complex than this. In this chapter, we turn the tables on conventional wisdom by looking to the positive features of plural or polycentric forms of security governance by asking how these features might be utilised to provide for more inclusive forms of security governance in the Global South. Drawing on empirical research in South Africa on plural policing arrangements, this chapter considers how Sustainable Development Goal 16 which seeks to ‘promote peaceful and inclusive societies’ might be realised within plural governance systems. This chapter seeks to demonstrate that certain conditions need to be in place for plural or polycentric systems of security governance to coprovide effective and inclusive security for the collective good and, furthermore, that the positive features of the nonstate can be harnessed to give effect to the SDGs.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Additional Information: The funding awarded by the John Roberston Bequest, University of Glasgow, is gratefully acknowledged.
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Berg, Dr Julie
• Authors: Berg, J., and Shearing, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• ISBN: 9781787693562
• Published Online: 18 November 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Julie Berg and Clifford Shearing
• First Published: First published in The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice and Sustainable Development: 153-173
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy